India’s Love-Hate View Of Lalit Modi

If Indian cricket administrators were batsmen, most of them would be Cheteshwar Pujara. They would eschew risk, play in the ‘V’ and consolidate. (More Cricket News)

If Lalit Modi had a bat in his hand, he would be a cross between Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya. He might reverse sweep James Anderson for four, and then swagger away at the end of play in head-to-toe Gucci. Modi prefers the classic luxury of Brunello Cucinelli, but you get the picture.

For all of Modi’s faults, we must hand him a few things. He makes bold gambits and lives on his terms. Good or bad, something interesting is always up with him. Proof of this is his romance, at 58, with Sushmita Sen, which he recently made public.

The moolah helps, of course. Finding an attractive partner late in life or enjoying sunsets in exotic locations is easier when you are worth an estimated Rs 4,500 crore.

Modi’s life has often been a live demonstration of the best and worst of human traits. Tragedy has been a constant companion too, like with the Kennedy clan. His first wife Minal, whom he married despite vehement opposition from his family, died in 2018 after a long battle with cancer.

Modi, too, has faced health challenges in recent times. A boyish, dapper man with a glint in his eyes not so long ago, he has greyed and gained weight.

Most Indians, therefore, have a love-hate view of the man who gave them the IPL.

Modi was lucky to have been born rich, if being born in obscene wealth can be called luck. Big daddy KK Modi’s big connections also helped him wriggle out of a serious case of cocaine possession and assault when he was a college student in the US. Someone with less influence than Modi would have certainly ended up on a cold metal bed in an American prison. Worse, even after returning to India, his wild, entitled behavior continued.

What saved Modi from self-destruction was that he had goals. One of them was an ambition to start a franchise cricket league. He had been working on it since the late-90s. This reporter had gotten confirmation then that some of the game’s biggest stars, including Sachin Tendulkar, had been approached by Modi’s company –called Modi Entertainment Network (MEN) at the time. But the tournament did not pan out.

Modi then did a wise thing. He became a part of the system, officially working in associations, including the BCCI. His first big break before the IPL was helping Sharad Pawar unseat Jagmohan Dalmiya in the BCCI sometime around 2005. ‘Saheb’ was pleased, and rewarded Modi with the post of BCCI vice-president.

And then, in 2007, India won the first ever T20 World Cup.  It triggered a T20 boom, paving the way for Lalit Modi’s long cherished dream to actualise.

It was not to last, though.

By 2010, Modi was finished as an Indian cricket administrator.

He had been going too fast, had been talking too much, and he was thumbing his nose at rules. Among other alleged offences, friends and family members were given preference in franchise ownership. One of the glaring cases was at Rajasthan Royals, where his brother-in-law Suresh Chellaram was a majority stakeholder.

India’s power structures, including the BCCI, are conservative by nature. They prefer individuals who maintain a low profile. Modi was not only running the league in a questionable way, he was also not one to fly below the radar. For a while his preening was indulged, because the IPL was a success. But ultimately the blades of his helicopter were clipped, in a manner of speaking, even though he was in many ways a likeable bloke.

“We were extremely comfortable with Lalit. Once a comfort level is established you want things to continue. And let’s face it, the IPL was his baby. But now we have no option but to look ahead. It’s a business,” a senior member of a franchise had told me after Modi’s ouster.

We are in 2022, Modi has been in exile in London for the longest time, and so many things are now water under the bridge. But, after the tragedy of losing his first wife Minal, Modi has a reason to smile again. And if there are major changes in India’s political landscape, he might just script a comeback. One remembers the words his lawyer Mehmood Abdi had used in the context of Lalit Modi vs the BCCI.

"Zindagi nursery school ke bachchon ki line nahin hai jo seedhi seedhi chale. Zindagi ek musalsal jung hai." Life isn’t a queue of school kids that it should proceed in an orderly way. Life is war.